Retreat for Carnaval

So in pure Ecuadorian Evangelical form, our church left town yesterday since it was the 'first day' of Carnaval. Often times churches have special retreats to escape the insanity of the city and it just so happened that it was the same Sunday as our Grand Celebration. So we went out Via Machala (towards the coast) just past a place called Yunguilla (where there is a huge eXtreme Sports complex.) All I can say is that it was an amazing Sunday. First of all it was great getting to know some of the church members a lot better. It´s amazing when my knowledge of the language and knowledge of the people coincide enough to be able to joke around and really have a good time. It was also fun seeing the kids enjoying the innocent parts of Carnaval, running around with water guns spraying each other and occassionaly hitting the unsuspecting adult! We all piled into three cars and one truck (thirty people) and the whole being a gringo thing paid off! It was women, children and gringo in the cars, everyone else in the back of the truck. SO I rode in a car with a family I´d met before but really didn´t know all that well. So it was nice to get to see them in their environment and how they interacted and all.

When time came for the Celebration we had a special prayer time where we broke off into different groups. It was a good time to get to know some of the members that don´t come as faithfully or who live farther away so as to prevent their participation in a lot of stuff. After that we met together and had a game to learn everyones names. It was where you had to same the name of everyone in front of you. If you think that is hard in english...try it in spanish! Then we just had a time of sharing, if God had done anything in someones life through the week they were invited to share. Then it was my turn. First I taught them a new song, one I had translated by request of patricio. He told me that a lot of the Christian music here is really shallow in it´s meanings and theology and I had shared one song before and so he asked me to translate a few songs and teach them to the church. So yesterday I taught Third Day´s Give. After that it was message time. It went so well. Since it was a 30 person group and we always try to go for interactive teaching it looked more like a Bible study, just with me asking questions prodding people along to the point I was trying to make. The message was on Matt. 23-23.24. I was talking about how God´s view of the Christian life is one that is balanced between acts of self righteousness (giving the tenth) and acts of Justice and mercy to those around us. I wasn´t sure how that message would work, especially among a people who, while wealthier than many Ecuadorians, sometimes just barely make ends meet. But I knew that it was a message from the Bible, a message of how the church should be different from the rest of society. So I shared, and they were so responsive. I think I was partially just thrilled that my Spanish didn´t get in the way and that now I know that, even with miles and miles of grammatical errors, God can still speak through me.

After the message we went on to play some games, and that was a good time to let down the guard and get to know a lot of the people better as we bobbed for limes, and tried to blow a plastic cup down a string (which i may say, I was the only person who didn´t need to stand on something to get to the cup! Go gringo height!!!)

So, now for a couple prayer requests. I forgot to mention that the AIEE (Association of Evangelical Churches of Ecuador) had their annual meeting and as prooves true for many church organizations, arguing was a large portion of the meeting from what I hear. It seems that in Ecuador, and much of latin america (and in a lot of the human race for that matter), power struggles often get in the way of ministry and of being church. So please be in prayer that the AIEE can come together, forget differences, and work together for Christ of the better of Ecuador and the spreading of Christ´s love and salvation.

Also, be praying for new missionaries on the feild. We have two new missionary families here in Cuenca, studying spanish. It was such a blessing the other day to have lunch with them all. And the best part was hearing all the accents. There were people from various parts of the US, national born Ecuadorians, a man from Scotland, and a family from New Zealand. It makes me wonder if we´ll get to keep our accents in God's kingdom, if so, that may have just been a small glimpse of what it may sound like.

Thanks for all your prayers and support. None of this would be possible without your help!